Russian court seizes Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank assets as part of lawsuit

A Russian court has ordered that Deutsche Bank's DBK and Commerzbank's CBK assets, accounts, property and shares be seized in Russia as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.

The banks were among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany's Linde LIN, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.

The lawsuits were filed by St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom GAZP which is the operator of the project.

The St Petersburg arbitration court has barred Deutsche Bank from exercising its 100% interest in the authorised capital of its Russian subsidiary, as well as Deutsche Bank Technology Center LLC.

The court has also imposed the seizure of up to 238.6 million euros ($259 million) in securities, real estate and bank accounts of Deutsche Bank, as well as its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.

Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned around 260 million euros for the case.

"We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia," the bank said in a statement.

The court also seized Commerzbank's assets worth 93.7 million euros ($101.85 million) as well as securities and the bank's building in central Moscow.

Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian court on Friday ordered UniCredit's UCG assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, be seized as part of a parallel lawsuit.

($1 = 0.9200 euros)